Well, This Could Have Been Awkward

While Mom was here, we took a short trip to the Netherlands.  After my Dad retired, he got involved in a lot of different things to pass the time.  One of those things was researching the genealogy of the Weirath family.  During that research, he came upon some family located in eastern part of the Netherlands.  Mark & his wife, Astrid, became email buddies with Dad.
We exchanged Christmas cards and they even sent some adorable wooden shoes to my niece Katie when she was born.  But, we never met.

So, when Mom decided to come visit me, it seemed like a natural thing to go visit.  We arranged to fly into Dusseldorf and drive the 1.5 hours to Losser.  Getting out of Dusseldorf to be a bit problematic.  Thankfully, they drive on the correct (right) side of the road and the driver seat is on the correct side of the car.  We didn't need to deal with that, too.  As it was, the stupid GPS (no, Teresa, I didn't name her, but if I had, it wouldn't have been a nice name) took us all over the place on our way out of town.  It didn't help that all the street signs were in German (duh, I know!).  There is no easy way to decipher that language.

Anyway, after much swearing, which including the F-bomb by me and the S-word by Mom (not "sucks"), we finally got on the road to Losser.  For those of you that have never driven in Germany, dear God, don't go slow!  On the main highways, there are no speed limits.  This proved to be panic-inducing whenever I had to pass someone.  There would be nobody in the lane and then all the sudden someone would be barreling down in my rear view mirror.  Thankfully, we avoided any accidents and arrived in Losser in one piece.

Losser is in the Netherlands, but the German border is very close.  I think Mom was a little disappointed there was no checkpoint for a passport stamp, but there wasn't much we could do about it. 

Mark & Astrid were waiting for us when we got there.  They welcomed us like family, which I know we technically are, but we have never met each other.  It is customary in the Netherlands to greet people with 3 kisses, a fact that Astrid and Mark informed us as soon as we got out of a car.  I appreciated this because I've been in a situation before where I didn't know that and almost ended up actually kissing someone because I thought we were done after 2.

We went into their house and Mark started off the conversation with "Well, this is a little weird."  Absolutely.  We are basically strangers and they invited us to stay at their house.  It was very natural, though.  We chatted and then decided to go through a walk through their town.  

Losser is very cute.  

It isn't that big, so walking around town didn't really take all that long.  We went into a little cheese shop to get some cheese for dinner. 

 Mm...cheese

After getting back to their house, we sat around a little more and chatted.  We shared family stories and cultural stories (dear God, "Honey Boo Boo" has even infiltrated the Netherlands!).  We also were entertained by their puppy, Coco, who had quickly become my little buddy.

Coco posing for the camera

We also took a drive around the country and went to an arboretum for a nice walk.  Along the way, our drive was interrupted by a cow crossing.  Yes, a cow crossing.  

Exactly like my commute to work 

The next morning, we had a traditional Dutch breakfast, which included coffee (mm...coffee) and bread with chocolate sprinkles.  I kid you not.  They eat this stuff for breakfast.  There are also pink & yellow sprinkles, but I was a purist.

It is good that we fueled up on a good breakfast because we ran around the rest of day.  Mark & Astrid asked us what we wanted to do.  Being that we were in the Netherlands, I thought it only appropriate that we go see some windmills.  Along with tulips, it is the iconic image of Holland, right?  I assumed that they were on every street corner, but I was wrong.

Quick educational side note: many people have asked me the difference between the Netherlands and Holland.  Holland is actually a region within the Netherlands.  The big cities in the Netherlands (Amsterdam, the Hague, Rotterdam) are all in Holland.  Many people use the terms interchangeably (including some of the Dutch themselves), but that is technically inaccurate.  Nobody is going to arrest you or anything if you call it Holland, but you might offend some of those in the east side of the country.

Anyway, back to the windmills....Mark & Astrid informed us that windmills aren't on every street corner, but there were 2 in a relatively short distance.  We went to both of them, but we spent more time at the first one - De Lonneker Molen.  The mill was built in 1851 and it is still functioning today producing a number of different types of flour.

We got lucky and were invited by one of the workers to take a tour of the inside of the mill.  Unfortunately, the stairs were basically a ladder, so Mom didn't take the tour.

Mill worker explaining how he puts on the sails

It was fascinating to me to see how much manual work is involved in the basic functioning of the windmill.  The mill worker has to stop the mill every 2 hours to manually grease the cogs on the inside of the mill.  He also has to climb up each blade of the windmill to attach the sail so the windmill will catch the wind.  I also learned that the position of the blades is very purposeful.  When the blades are in the + position, the windmill is on rest for a short period of time.  When the blades are in the x position, the windmill is on rest for a longer period of time.  There are also blade positions for celebration and mourning.

Mom and Astrid with the windmill at rest

It was very cool to get the insight in to the inner workings of the mill.  I found it interesting that the mill worker very much enjoyed the manual work that he did.  There were some "improvements" that had been made to the mill over time to make things easier (e.g. automation), but the mill worker seemed to eschew them in favor of the old way of doing things.

Astrid, Mom & Mark at the windmill

After our windmill adventure, we went to the downtown area of Losser to their farmer's market.  They had the traditional cheese, chocolate, sausage vendors.  They also had a guy smoking eel, a traditional Dutch food.  No, I didn't try it.  It still had it's head on it.  Ew.

 Smoking eel

After the farmer's market, we went to see another windmill and drove over the border to Germany (still no stamp) to see an artistic town and then to a town called Bad Bentheim to see an early medieval castle, Burg Bentheim (very original name).

 Burg Bentheim

Mom & Astrid (the little people in the picture)

The views from the castle were really impressive.  Mom tried to conquer her heights fears and see those views, but I think she was more comfortable in the dungeons.  It's like the prisoner cells were built for her.

By the time we got home, we were exhausted.  All that fresh air did us in.  A couple of glasses of wine, including some Dutch wine that we bought at the farmers market, some cheese, olives and we went to bed happy.

All in all, it was a wonderful visit.  We had a great time seeing how some real Dutch people live.  Virtual strangers became family.  Mark looks a bit like my Dad.  Really, he looks more like Uncle Tom, but if you know him, you know how much he looks like my Dad.  Either way, it was a little weird.  

Astrid & Mark

Mark & Astrid were exceptionally good hosts.  Mom & I are hopeful that we can return the favor and have them come visit us in the States.